The Notre-Dame Affair was an action performed by , , Ghislain Desnoyers de Marbaix, and Jean Rullier, members of the radical wing of the

Lettrist Lettrism is a French avant-garde movement, established in Paris in the mid-1940s by Romanian immigrant Isidore Isou. In a body of work totaling hundreds of volumes, Isou and the Lettrists have applied their theories to all areas of art and culture ...

movement, on Easter Sunday, 9 April 1950, at

Notre-Dame Cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris (; meaning "Our Lady of Paris"), referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the Seine River), in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. The cathedral, dedicated to th ...

in Paris, while the mass was aired live on national TV. Mourre, dressed in the habit of a Dominican

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ...

and backed by his co-conspirators, chose a quiet moment in the Easter High Mass to climb to the rostrum and declaim before the whole congregation a blasphemous anti-sermon on the death of God, penned by Berna.

The Mourre-Berna Proclamation

The aftermath

The action and the events leading up to and following it are described in detail in Michel Mourre's autobiography.Michel Mourre, ''In Spite of Blasphemy'', John Lehmann, 1953; translated from the French by A.W. Fielding The authors of the action, young bohemians tied to

Lettrism Lettrism is a French avant-garde movement, established in Paris in the mid-1940s by Romanian immigrant Isidore Isou. In a body of work totaling hundreds of volumes, Isou and the Lettrists have applied their theories to all areas of art and culture ...

, an avant-garde movement surrounding

Isidore Isou Isidore Isou (; 29 January 1925 – 28 July 2007), born Isidor Goldstein, was a Romanian-born French poet, dramaturge, novelist, film director, economist, and visual artist who lived in the 20th century. He was the founder of Lettrism, an art ...

, were all arrested by the police. A furious mob chased the protesters from the church.

Greil Marcus Greil Marcus (born June 19, 1945) is an American author, music journalist and cultural critic. He is notable for producing scholarly and literary essays that place rock music in a broader framework of culture and politics. Biography Marcus wa ...

(1989) '' Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the 20th Century''
preview
at Google books, pp.279-86 The only one held for any length of time was Mourre, himself a former Dominican friar and the instigator of the whole affair. As his fate was being decided, dozens of prominent voices from culture, the church and the state joined a debate in the newspapers on the merits or (more commonly) not, of the provocation. In particular ''

Combat Combat (French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is sometimes resorted to as a method of self-defense, or ...

'', an organ of the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

, began with a commentary by its editor Louis Pauwels condemning the action; but a vehement letter in response by

André Breton André Robert Breton (; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first '' Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') ...

, attacking Pauwels for his "partial account," and defending the actions, escalated the debate;Boucharenc, Myriam (2005
''L'universel reportage''
pp.94-6 Breton, André (1950
''Lettre a Louis Pauwels" sur le «"scandale" de Notre Dame»''
in ''

'', April 12, 1950, ''OC III'', pp.1024-5 to it were devoted eight days of coverage and a running editorial forum amounting to a total of twenty-some articles by such figures as

Jean Paulhan Jean Paulhan (2 December 1884 – 9 October 1968) was a French writer, literary critic and publisher, director of the literary magazine ''Nouvelle Revue Française'' (NRF) from 1925 to 1940 and from 1946 to 1968. He was a member (Seat 6, 1963–68 ...

, Pierre Emmanuel,

Maurice Nadeau Maurice Nadeau (21 May 1911 – 16 June 2013) was a French teacher, writer, literary critic, and editor. He was born in Paris. He was the father of the actress Claire Nadeau and the film director Gilles Nadeau. Biography Orphaned during th ...

, Messieur the Police Commissioner, le curé de Saint-Pierre de Chaillot,

Gabriel Marcel Gabriel Honoré Marcel (7 December 1889 – 8 October 1973) was a French philosopher, playwright, music critic and leading Christian existentialist. The author of over a dozen books and at least thirty plays, Marcel's work focused on the mode ...

Benjamin Péret Benjamin Péret (4 July 1899 – 18 September 1959) was a French poet, Parisian Dadaist and a founder and central member of the French Surrealist movement with his avid use of Surrealist automatism. Biography Benjamin Péret was born in Rezé, ...

, and

René Char René Émile Char (; 14 June 1907 – 19 February 1988) was a French poet and member of the French Resistance. Biography Char was born in L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue in the Vaucluse department of France, the youngest of the four children of Emile ...

. The police and the Church, for their part, unable to let the insult pass unpunished, nevertheless wanted to avoid amplifying it through a public trial. After a few days they brought in a psychiatrist of questionable integrity, who recommended locking Mourre away in an asylum. Participants in the Combat debate, attentive to the case, protested, and upon the intervention of a second psychiatrist, Mourre was released on 21 April. The scandal resonated into the heart of the Lettrist movement. Consistent with practices of agitation on which Isou had founded his movement in 1945, the Notre-Dame affair nevertheless put Isou's radicality, and that of his supporters, to the test. The action thus advanced a nascent rupture in the movement, between two blocs which could be called, respectively, "artistic" and "actionist," a rupture which two years later would lead to a schism and formation of the

Lettrist International The Letterist International (LI) was a Paris-based collective of radical artists and cultural theorists between 1952 and 1957. It was created by Guy Debord and Gil J. Wolman rejoined by Jean-Louis Brau and Serge Berna as a schism from Isidore ...

. It was after Gil J. Wolman, Jean-Louis Brau, and

Guy Debord Guy-Ernest Debord (; ; 28 December 1931 – 30 November 1994) was a French Marxist theorist, philosopher, filmmaker, critic of work, member of the Letterist International, founder of a Letterist faction, and founding member of the Situation ...

, the principal agents of this schism, joined the Lettrist movement, siding with the actionist Ultra-Lettrist bloc still distinguished by the Notre-Dame Affair, and who, along with

Ivan Chtcheglov Ivan Vladimirovitch Chtcheglov (Russian: Ива́н Влади́мирович Щегло́в; 16 January 1933 – 21 April 1998), also known as Gilles Ivain, was a French political theorist, activist and poet, born in Paris to Russian parents. ...

and Berna, formed the LI. It was the LI, launched on the occasion of an intervention directed against

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is conside ...

, that between 1952 and 1957 experimented with new forms of art and action that would lead to the

Situationist International The Situationist International (SI) was an international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and political theorists. It was prominent in Europe from its formation in 1957 to its dissolution ...

. The contributors to the Combat debate sought to diminish the importance of the Notre-Dame action by pointing out that it was not entirely without precedent, as, on 22 March 1892, young Blanquistes had interrupted mass, shouting "Long live the Republic! Long live the Commune! Down with the Church!"

References

Notes Sources * ''

''. April 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 19, 20 & 21, 1950. Paris. *

. '' Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the 20th Century'', 279ff. London: Faber & Faber,

989 Year 989 ( CMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Emperor Basil II uses his contingent of 6,000 Varangians to help him defeat ...

2002. * Biene Baumeister and Zwi Negator. ''Situationistische Revolutionstheorie: Eine Aneignung. Vol. II Kleines Organon'', 42. Stuttgart: Schmetterling Verlag, 2007. {{Culture jamming Political art Protests in France Anti-Catholicism in France Situationist International 1950 in France April 1950 events in Europe Notre-Dame de Paris